Novak Djokovic, a week younger than Andy Murray and already the world No6, is now one victory away from his first grand slam final, having defeated Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the French Open yesterday. All he has to do is beat the reigning champion Rafael Nadal, unbeaten in 19 matches at Roland Garros, tomorrow. "And he's the best player in the world on this surface and everybody knows that," said Djokovic. Not that the 20-year-old Serb will be the least bit intimidated.

He has already beaten Nadal once this year, albeit on the US hard courts in Miami and not Nadal's most favoured surface, and Djokovic will hope to reproduce that form again. "Mentally Novak is so strong for his age," said Andreev, who after an excellent run to the last eight simply ran out of gas against Djokovic, who also reached the quarter-finals here last year when he had to retire with a back problem when two sets down against Nadal. The Spaniard also won in straight sets yesterday, beating his fellow Mallorcan, Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.

Djokovic's success saw him join his fellow Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic in the semi-finals, an extraordinary occurrence. "It's just phenomenal for such a small country, especially as we have no real tennis tradition," said Djokovic. "I cannot explain why we have come up together at the top of the world at the same time. Jelena went to the US, Ana is in Switzerland and I have been practising since I was 12 in Germany and Italy. So we didn't have any system in our country to help us in our careers." If it has been pure happenstance, then what would Britain and the Lawn Tennis Association not give for such a happy convergence of talent?

Djokovic's aim is to be world No1 while his dream "is to win the Wimbledon title". Not that he would turn his nose up at lifting the Coup des Mousquetaires on Sunday afternoon, although he remains circumspect. "You know, I still don't see myself as a slam winner but I believe I can be." In his last two matches the young Serb has often looked a little weary, yet he keeps on finding a way to win, principally because he has so few weaknesses.

He has wonderful defensive attributes and can also step up the attack and shorten the points, as he did against Andreev. "It's going to be difficult against Rafa, although being in my first slam semi-final can only motivate me. I think I played the perfect game against him in Miami, it was probably the best match of my life, but on clay he's not the same player. He is a big favourite whoever he plays on this surface," said Djokovic.

It was a view endorsed by Moya: "It will be a tough for Djokovic to beat him because in order to beat Rafa you need to dictate the play, you need to dominate and in a best-of-five-set match that will be difficult." When Nadal broke Moya's serve in the fifth game of the first set it appeared the 30-year-old might succumb quickly. In fact he hit back immediately. A brilliant lob and a devastatingly disguised drop shot sowed seeds of doubt and compounded Nadal's early nerves.

The champion saved one break point when Moya mistimed a backhand, roaring with frustration, only for a forehand mistake by the youngster, who was 21 last weekend, and a rotten drop shot, to give Moya the opportunity to level at 3-3. It was imperative, if the older man were to stand any chance of winning, that he took full advantage of these rare moments of waywardness. He could not and Nadal sped off into the clear blue yonder.

Worryingly for Djokovic, and perhaps Roger Federer, Nadal believes he is playing better than last year and has developed more options, in both defence and attack. "He is playing very deep," said Moya, "and even when his shots hit the middle of the court they bounce so high that it is very difficult to attack him. There was not much I could do, to be honest." That high bounce has always been the problem for Federer here, particularly on his backhand side. In Hamburg, where the world No1 managed his first win over Nadal on clay last month, the much slower courts mean the ball stays lower.

Whether Djokovic can cope is doubtful. Federer, who meets Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in tomorrow's other semi-final, will at least hope the Serb makes it a long match.